Belarus’ representative at UN summit: sanctions threaten global food security
Despite the unprecedented sanctions pressure Belarus has faced since 2020, the country continues to be a stable food supplier. In 2022, the country managed to increase the volume of production and to significantly expand the geography of deliveries – as stated by the representative of the Republic of Belarus during his speech at the plenary session of the UN Food Systems Summit +2 Stocktaking Moment, which is taking place these days at the FAO headquarters in Rome.
According to the Belarusian Foreign Ministry’s press service, during his speech, the representative of Belarus announced that the total export of agricultural products from Belarus in 2022 totalled $8.3bn, “Belarus remains one of the largest exporters of dairy products, poultry meat, rapeseed oil, many other goods and, of course, fertilisers. At the same time, we have repeatedly focused on the negative consequences for the entire international community of unilateral coercive measures that a number of states are introducing in violation of the UN Charter against their political opponents.”
The Belarusian representative stressed that the latest report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) paints a bleak picture,
“The number of hungry people in the world is practically not decreasing. Nearly 30 percent of the world’s population faces moderate or severe food insecurity. Sanctions are one of the main sources of threat to global food security. FAO, the World Bank and many other authoritative organisations draw attention to the fact that one of the reasons for the rise in prices was the sanctions against Belarusian fertilisers. We’re convinced that the time has come for active actions and responsible political decisions. We must finally admit to everyone that we are living in a period of planetary transformation, which is characterised by a lack of trust and a lack of predictability. This is the result of serious disagreements, primarily between the major powers, on security issues.”
Under the current conditions, it is necessary, first of all, to ensure the stability of the commodity distribution chains for food and fertilisers, “It’s necessary to eliminate sanctions and other trade restrictions and barriers against them. The 43rd FAO Conference, held in the same hall a fortnight ago, also drew attention to this. And it is from this that we need to start when developing measures to maintain and develop food systems.”
